Markets slightly shaky

Will the King of Good Times spike the mood of the market? At least that is what it seemed like towards the end of this fortnight. With a massive sell off in banking stocks, the market closed in the negative only for the second day in the fortnight, though it ended the fortnight in the positive. The Sensex and the Nifty ended the fortnight up three per cent each, while other broader indices too averaged a gain of 2.5 per cent over the fortnight. Small and Mid-Cap counters continued with their positive run; the BSE Mid-Cap Index rising by 3.48 per cent while the BSE Small-Cap Index was up 2.30 per cent over the fortnight.

Globally too, the sentiment continued to be buoyant, particularly in Asia. The  Japanese Nikkei ended the fortnight with some solid gains. It was up six per cent over the fortnight, while the Shanghai Composite was up 2.39 per cent. The Dow and the FTSE managed to keep their heads above the water, with only a marginal rise over the fortnight. The dust seems to have finally settled (at least temporarily) on the worries emanating from the European shores with the Greece bailout finally being implemented.

On the domestic front, the results have failed to enthuse the markets and all will now depend on government, governance and policy making. The first indicator in this direction will be election results, particularly in UP, followed by the Budget. Till then expect the markets to be on shaky grounds with the Kingfishers of the world threatening to spoil the party.[PAGE BREAK]
Exchange Happenings

As the first Stock Exchange in Asia and the pioneer of the securities transaction business, BSE has been at the forefront in bringing innovations to the Indian capital markets. The BSE has facilitated the growth of the Indian capital markets by creating diverse investment opportunities for the investor community in India throughout its long history. It has undertaken several strategic initiatives over the last three years towards becoming an integrated transaction processing company in the financial infrastructure space. The two most recent big initiatives at BSE are the launch of first-ever live Carbon Index, BSE-GREENEX, and the BRICS Exchanges alliance. While the first initiative will provide investors an exposure to the Green-India, the latter will connect them to BRICS emerging market economies.

BSE-GREENEX

From being the first in India to introduce innovations in our Indices such as the free float method and the capped indexing method, to being the only Index provider in India with all real time indices, the BSE provides a diverse portfolio of Index options for our investment community. BSE has now embarked upon adding the 25th real time index to its roster of indices, which is also India’s first live Carbon Index. BSE-GREENEX is a noteworthy initiative that will serve investors who wish to benchmark their investments based on the segment of the economy that supports clean, renewable and sustainable economic development. The Index has been constructed in association with gTrade (supported by GIZ, promoted by Federal Republic of Germany, Observer Research Foundation and IIM Ahmedabad) designed specifically to promote green investing, with emphasis on financial performance and long term viability of companies. Observer Research Foundation is an independent forum supported by many of India’s leading intellectuals, academics, public figures, social activists, business leaders and institutions of higher learning.

BSE Brings Indices Of The World’s Largest And Fastest Growing Economies To Indian Investors

BSE is all set to bring FTSE/JSE Top40 Index (South Africa), Hang Seng Index (Hong Kong), Bovespa Index (Brazil) and the MICEX Index (Russia) to Indian capital markets. Through an alliance between the the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), global investors will get exposure to the BRICS bloc of emerging economies.

At the 51st Annual General Meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) held in Johannesburg in October 2011, the Stock Exchanges of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) had announced this joint initiative to connect investors to these dynamic economies.

The BRICS Exchanges alliance holds great promise, as it will create avenues for Indian investors to diversify and expand into other emerging markets. It will also provide unique opportunities to investors in other BRICS nations to participate and contribute in the SENSEX. Through this alliance, the BSE plans to work towards bringing world-class products to Indian markets, as well as developing new products for other BRICS markets.